Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Word of the day: Arduous (adj): characterized by toilsome effort to the point of exhaustion.

And what an arduous day, indeed. I'm not two hours into my work day yet, and epic battles are already beginning. Mortars of policy, bombs of politics, missiles of blame and grenades of revolt are being exchanged liberally this morning. Commuting, though, is about getting to and from work (and other places, ostensibly), not about bewailing the current state of affairs between bike rides.

With that, I suppose you're expecting me to bewail yet another arduous ride to work on crappy hybrid tires. You won't find it today, because Hybridzilla was hauling ass this morning. I also got to see an amazing sunrise on my way out the door.

Some mornings, I feel like I'm just another commuter. I didn't have time to finish my cream cheese bagel before it was time to shove off for work. I ate and rode for the first 3/4 mile of my trip. Neither hand on the controls, and not paying attention to the road. Yep, I fit right in with everyone else this morning.

I threw the Forte Slick City tires back on last night. They're designed for 85 PSI but blew them up to 120 PSI to test the beads and make sure they would hold. They gladly took the excess pressure, so I guess I'll keep using them. 'Zilla still wants a new pair of shoes, but people in hell will certainly want ice water and The Twelve still wants a rear wheel. We can't always get what we want right away. These tires will suffice for now.

I put forth about the same amount of effort as I had put in the past few days. The result was a boost of 3 MPH to my average speed. Karen was nowhere to be seen this morning, but she'd mentioned being a bike buddy escort for a co-worker who's just getting into it.

I did, however, see a few more bikes out this morning, probably due to gas prices creeping back up again. Are the prices elevating in anticipation of the 4th of July? Or maybe a gnat farted in the middle east. One of the people I saw riding is the lady who has been piloting the green mountain bike that's been parked next to me lately. She's got some teenage kids and bought the bike from a thrift store a few months ago so she could ride on MUPs with her kids. Monday, she decided to start commuting by bike. It's now Wednesday and she says she's starting to feel the pain. I'm not sure how far she rides, and I don't think she really knows, either. She says she's from Kansas City Kansas but that could be 3 miles each way or more like 15. I'm betting it's probably 5-8 miles each way, though. I reassured her that the pain that comes with riding usually subsides a lot after 2 weeks. Maybe she'll have the chops to keep it up.

Here's something funny. I bought this watch probably about 5 years ago. It's got a solar power array around the watch bezel under the glass, which recharges the built-in battery. I shelved it after about 6 months of use because it kept dying on me and I'd have to leave it sit under a lamp for a few days to bring it back to life. I was spending all of my time indoors, and I liked my office dark. I was only out and about 30 minutes per day or so, which wasn't enough to charge it. I stumbled across it last week and have been wearing it for a while. It only took two good days of riding home from work in the sun to lift its battery meter to full power. I've missed this watch. I have a feeling it's going to stay charged these days.

2 comments:

I have almost the same watch. Sarah got it for me a couple of years ago, I've never had a problem with its battery getting low, not even in the winter. On the other hand, I too used to spend a lot more time indoors.

When I drove trucks I saw more sunrises than sunsets. I decided that genmerally sunrises are much nicer. You captured that one for sure.

I have seen more folks commuting also. One fellow, a 50 something fire chief in Sanford bought a hybrid in April from me. It was his first bike in 35 years. He was just going to get someexercise. I think he has commuted the 20 mile round trip now about 40 days in a row. He loves it.

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